Proposed Legislation to support cyclists and pedestrians

CALL TO ALL New Mexican CYCLISTS and Walkers

Please invite your legistators , bring them and yourself to O'Niels Pub Washington & Central Albuquerque Wednesday January 7th at 6PM Reservered Room. Lots of bike racks at the rear enterance.

Get out the vote for new Legislation to support cyclists and pedestrians .

The Platform will be introduced.

Save lives, get New Mexico a Bicycle Friendly State Status ( currently 45th out 50), Get the 5' law enacted through out the State. Hear what Oregon has done.

Sorry for the short notice but we have to act FAST!!!!!!!

The Santa Fe will only be in session for 60 days and we need Bills introduced by the 16th of January. Ask your State Senator or Representative to sponsor a bill.

Forward this on to all the cyclists, walkers, and lawmakers you know in the state of New Mexico!!!

See you Wednesday at 6PM

Craig Degenhardt

BikeABQ President

(see link on right sidebar for BikeABQ info)

Speaking of environmental sustainability, lets examine cycling infrastructure and policy in Los Alamos

I'd like to start collecting feedback on local bicycling infrastructure and policy here.

Policy seems fine. We don't have any egregiously bad law here, the LAPD is supportive and professional regarding cyclists rights to the road, our Transportation Dept. is keen on cycling issues, and Council has been pro-cycling and pro-pedestrian. But the devil is always in the details.

The infrastructure needs to be examined critically since there is often the presumption among less experienced cyclists that infrastructure equals safety. In fact, no infrastructure is safe unless everyone using it (motorist and cyclist) is skilled. Some infrastructure can actually increase the danger for a nonskilled cyclist by creating a false sense of security and creating conflict points. As far as problematic infrastructure? One must not build it. One must critically examine it.

A particularly worrisome example, supported by some in the cycling community in the past, is the "downhill" North Rd. bike lane descending to the Quemezon intersection.

Here, downhill cyclists at any speed approaching motor traffic speed should be fully in the lane. You need to prevent North Rd. motorists from overtaking you and then right hooking you if they turn right into Quemezon. You need to make sure uphill North Rd. motorists see you and not turn left in front of you, thinking a curb-hugging cyclist is going slowly. You also need to be as visible as possible to prevent motorists from exiting Quemezon in front of you (fail to yield) as you ride downhill. Again, a curb hugging cyclist is less visible.

Not all "bicycling facilities" are created equal. Some are fine. Some create hazards as well as benefits. Some just are not a good idea. We need to sort these out and have some input as Los Alamos rebuilds its streets.

Further, this is a great time to add such input, since Los Alamos is trying to make itself "environmentally sustainable". What better way to be environmentally sustainable than to replace a fossil fuel trip with a cycling trip? But let's not uncritically equate facilities with safety.

See below.

Hello members of Boards, staff and community,

The County Council asked the Environmental Sustainability Board to provide recommendations for objectives under the Council’s Strategic Goal to Maintain Environmental Quality. The Board held a work session on December 11, 2008 to develop recommendations. Various members of the public, boards and staff attended the work session which is documented in the attached document.

Before we present these recommendations to Council, we wanted to give you a chance to provide comment. We are available to make a short presentation to your Board if you would like. Please provide any feedback to me. We would like to have these recommendations ready for Council’s next strategic planning session which is likely to occur in February 2009.

The recommended objectives are listed on page 3 under Workshop Outcomes, followed on page 4 by the actual words from the brainstorming session. Recommended objectives are also listed below:

Proposed Objectives for Council’s Strategic Goal to Maintain Environmental Quality

1. Demonstrate sustainable design, renewable energy and green operations in County facilities.

2. Pursue community wide independence from hydrocarbon energy sources.

3. Take bold actions to conserve water and energy.

4. Maximize recycling, waste reduction, and reuse.

5. Increase the use of products with positive environmental attributes.

6. Establish key baseline measurements, establish conservation goals and measure progress annually.

7. Create sustainable education and outreach on environmental and energy goals.

8. Incorporate sustainable land use practices wherever feasible including protecting open space, trails and habitat and encouraging beneficial planting and community gardens.

Thank you for your consideration,

Regina Wheeler

Los Alamos County

Environmental Services Manager

505-663-1920 office

505-690-4197 cell

To this call, by the way, I made the following suggestions:

Develop land use planning codes which minimize the need for additional vehicle miles travelled and additional roadway space required in the county (a Transportation Master Plan cannot be written in isolation from a land use/development plan, since people need to travel from where we let them build homes and offices and what facilities we provide them to displace cars--so why are we spreading out all the way to the Airport Basin?)

Ensure that new and existing roadways are constructed/rebuilt to encourage pedestrian, transit, small electric/hybrid vehicle, and bicycling oriented movement. Ensure that new and renovated roadways and their speed limits do not serve as impediments to the above modes of travel. One potential benchmark can be how the transportation mode split changes as we implement these plans.

Provide tax incentives for local businesses to provide bicycling end-user facilities and plug-in parking for future fleets of plug-in hybrid vehicles. If future county/regional transit centers are to be provided with private vehicle parking, these should be equipped to encourage non-traditional travel to these facilities (plug in hybrids, bicycles, mopeds, etc.)

Examine how we tax property to encourage "best use" practices from an environmental quality perspective. Should downtown Los Alamos look like a sea of parking lots interspersed with buildings?

What if you ran an election and nobody came?

I was perusing the LAB web site ("Vote Today! (12.15.08)" and see that three National Board seats were open, representing Regions 1, 4, and 6 (not us). However, there appears to be only one candidate on the ballot in each region: "...Running for election are: Region 1: John Siemiatkoski, President, Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition Region 4: Rob Sadowsky, Executive Director, Active Transportation Alliance (formerly Chicagoland Bicycle Federation) Region 6: Amanda Eichstaedt, Chair, League of American Bicyclists..."

Could it be that cyclists are simply not interested in running their national organization? Not a good sign. But it might be worse than apathy, according to the LabReform page:

LAB and a Soviet-style election

"LAB members in 3 League regions are now being offered a chance to vote -- but like elections in the old Soviet Union, there will be only one choice in each region..."

My opinion?

Sent today (1-4-09)

Editor, The American Bicyclist

I was perusing the LAB web site ("Vote Today! (12.15.08)" and see that three Regional Board seats were on the ballot in the Fall of 2008, representing Regions 1, 4, and 6. Unfortunately, there appears to have been only one candidate on the ballot in each region. Could it be that League members are simply not interested in running for the Board of their national organization? That concept is troubling.

In addition, LAB, like any other organization, needs new brains to be cycled through the LAB leadership in order to prevent inbreeding and stale thinking. Will these three new Board members, elected by default, provide critical, outside-the-box oversight of LAB's policies and procedures? Should the Nominating Committee have worked harder to solicit more choices?

A second issue is the large number (42%) of appointed rather than elected Board members. This can be problematic for a membership-based organization. While it is undoubtedly practical to appoint rather than elect some board members, especially those with needed expertise (such as members of the cycling, planning, or engineering industries) or appoint a trained and experienced treasurer, auditor, or legal counsel, this current LAB practice compromises the membership's representation. Indeed, this policy leaves open the possibility of severely manipulating the balance of an otherwise membership-elected Board to perpetuate a temporary majority or point of view. Imagine if our 100 elected U.S. Senators could have, on their own, appointed an additional 72 members in the 109th Congress when Republicans ruled. Or, for that matter, in the upcoming 111th Congress when Democrats will rule. So much for the People.

LAB is a critical organization for American cyclists and must be supported, nurtured, and grown. LAB represents the interests of its membership (and cycling in general) at the national level where national transportation policy and funding are determined. LAB can lend support to local and regional organizations by bringing local issues to national attention and bringing national resources to bear on selected, critical, local problems. LAB sponsors the League's excellent cycling education program and its instructors (LCI's), the Bicycle-Friendly Communities program, and does other fine work. But as good as these programs are, all of these efforts, and LAB's prioritization of member-supported resources, must be responsive to member input through our choice of leadership.

Therefore, as messy as democracy may be, I think it is important to have fully democratic representation on the Board. Our Board should not be unduly controlled, through appointments, by the existing board members regardless of their high caliber, but should reflect the evolving views and diverse thinking of the membership. Having large numbers of appointed board members threatens this ideal, and increasingly takes members out of the loop of governance and decision-making. Hence the need for lively and contested elections and a minimum of appointed members.

Keep LAB strong. If you are not a member, join. If you are a member, become involved in leadership.

So if you have gripes, e-mail our regional Board rep., Harry Brull. His address is on the League web site here. Board Chair Amanda Eichstaedt's email is there too.

Ok, ok...so DON'T get a light!

Going back to something I said earlier....

'Bike rage' suspect arrested

The Capital Times — 12/04/2008 11:23 am

The bicyclist who felt "extremely insulted" when a fellow biker told him to get a light on his bike and ended up beating the commenter was arrested and tentatively charged with battery and disorderly conduct Wednesday, police said...

NY Times: Hawaii endorses electric car fleet

'Bout time someone started thinking outside the box--or should I say bonnet.

In yesterday's New York Times:

"SAN FRANCISCO — The State of Hawaii and the Hawaiian Electric Company on Tuesday endorsed an effort to build an alternative transportation system based on electric vehicles with swappable batteries and an “intelligent” battery recharging network...."

Now, if they would only get their Honolulu Bike Plan enacted, they could have a hat trick: excellent bus system, progressive individual transportation, and bikeability all in one place.

Diamond Drive: Before and After

Well, I said I would wait for the barrels to be gone but got impatient to get this post up. So here it is: Diamond Drive recreated. These photos were taken at approximately the same place--about a hundred feet or so West of the golf course crosswalk near 35th Street. The first photo was taken in January of 2004 before work began to improve Diamond Drive, and the second on 28 Nov. 2008, when almost all of the work on Phase II has been completed. Note the bike and ped friendly improvements: bike lanes rather than the ditch, the bus refuge for our new bus system, and the new sidewalks as well as the pedestrian refuge in the middle of the road. And, better signage and oncoming traffic separation. Click on the pics for higher resolution.



Still not sure I admire the huge footprint of the road--most of the time the asphalt is relatively empty; even during rush hour its not so heavy compared to a "real" rush hour, i.e., New York, San Franciso, Albuquerque, Honolulu, etc. I think a three-lane "road diet" would have more than sufficed to move the number of people we have here with minimal inconvenience.

But at least for cyclists and pedestrians, its a considerable improvement to Los Alamos, considering that Diamond Drive connects virtually all of our housing and businesses to each other (see below). This critical "complete streets" improvement should, when all four phases are complete, encourage more cycling without the lane-changing chores for motorists overtaking cyclists, cyclists having concerns of riding in busy vehicle traffic lanes, or cyclists being forced into nasty situations such as that old gutter! Having said that, bike lanes and crosswalks are not magic bullets: cyclists need to exhibit skill to ride safely, peds need to be alert, and motorists must abide by the law and respect other users sharing the roads.

Thanks go out to all of those involved for these improvements going from the drawing board, through the planning process, and out to the asphalt and concrete world.

Red line is Diamond drive, which connects North and Barranca Mesas (upper right) to Western Areas (left) to main downtown and residential areas (lower right) and Hospital/National Laboratory (lower left)